Actress-turned-director Angela Bassett is adamant the controversy over her upcoming Whitney Houston biopic will give the project a boost by piquing the public’s interest. The star is taking charge of …

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Angela Bassett(Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)

Actress-turned-director Angela Bassett is adamant the controversy over her upcoming Whitney Houston biopic will give the project a boost by piquing the public’s interest.

The star is taking charge of a new TV movie based on the life of the superstar singer with former “America’s Next Top Model” contestant Yaya DaCosta in the lead role.

The project, titled “I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story,” has been criticized by Houston’s mother Cissy, who claims producers have gone ahead with the film despite objections from the family, saying, “No one connected with this movie knew Whitney or anything about her relationship with (ex-husband) Bobby (Brown). … I find it difficult to believe people who knew and supposedly loved her would participate in a movie about her done by folks who didn’t know her.”

However, Bassett says the controversy could be good for business, telling Billboard.com, “Controversy can be good. It can pique your interest.”

She added of her work on the project, “It felt like it was flowing from the beginning. Except me with the learning curve, you know. Coming from one side of the camera to the other.”

Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, has apologized for lashing out at Angela Bassett after the veteran actress refused to consider casting the 21 year old in a planned biopic about her superstar mom.

Bassett is due to make her directorial debut with the TV project for Lifetime and she recently insisted the idea of casting aspiring actress Brown never crossed her mind because “acting is a craft.”
Her comments infuriated Houston’s only child and she slammed Bassett in a series of posts on Twitter, in which she questioned whether the star is really a woman. She wrote, “Ha MsAng ‘bassketcase’ (sic) has such a damn nerve my lord, at least the world doesn’t mistake me for the wrong sex… “When I win my first Grammy or Oscar, *Shrugs* hmm whichever comes 1st, I’ll be sure 2shout URname (your name) out b—! Hah (sic)…”

The online attack sparked a backlash among some of Brown’s Twitter followers for her disrespectful remarks, prompting the youngster to make amends for her harsh words. Returning to Twitter, Brown writes, “I’m a young woman who can admit her wrongs. 4who (sic) was offended I apologize BUT understand me before your (sic) quick to judge though.”
Bassett has yet to comment on the fall-out.

“All My Children” soap star Yaya DaCosta has been cast to portray the late singer in “I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story,” which is expected to air next year.